Arvind
Khanna, Manish may get Cong ticketChandigarh, March 29Two sitting legislators — Mr
Arvind Khanna and Rana Gurjit Singh — are in contention for Congress
ticket as the All-India Congress Committee appears to be favourably
inclined towards introducing young and fresh faces in the coming Lok
Sabha elections. A formal announcement of candidates for remaining
Punjab seats is likely to be made on Tuesday.

Haryana
Akalis sever ties with SADKharar, March 29Akalis in Haryana severed ties
with the Shiromani Akali Dal because they were asking for the party
ticket for the coming Lok Sabha elections which the SAD could not
give.

MPLAD
fund: Phillaur MP spent 99.17 pcMohali, March 29If the utilisation of the Member
Parliament Local Area Development (MPLAD) fund is a criterion to judge
the performance of an MP, then Mrs Santosh Chowdhary from Phillaur can
be called the most efficient former MP from Punjab. She is the only
outgoing MP from the state who managed to utilise 99.17 per cent of
the funds released to her under the MPLAD scheme.

Punjabi
University Syndicate okays Rs 77-cr BudgetPatiala, March 29The Punjabi University Syndicate
today formally approved an annual budget of Rs 77.25 crore, with an
estimated deficit of Rs 12.5 crore. It also approved admissions to
three new courses- electronics and communication engineering,
mechanical engineering and computer engineering for the Yadvindra
College of Engineering a Guru Kashi campus, Talwandi Sabo, which would
be for rural students only.

Samjhauta
brings special guestsAttari, March 29The Samjhauta Express today
brought some special guests — kin of two Sikh women, Jaswant Kaur
and his sister Harbhajan Kaur, who had acquired new names, Razia
Sultan and Arshad Beghum, respectively, after embracing Islam due to
Partition.

Amritsar, March 29Rai Aziz Ullah Khan, a member of
the National Assembly (MNA) of Pakistan and the ninth direct
descendant of the ruler of the erstwhile Raikot Riyasat (Ludhiana),
said he and his family won’t part with the priceless Sagar Ganga, a
metal pitcher gifted by Guru Gobind Singh.

Rai Aziz Ullah Khan, a member of the National Assembly, Pakistan, and the ninth direct
descendant of the ruler of Raikot (Ludhiana), who possesses relics of Guru Gobind Singh. — A Tribune photograph

GND
varsity to establish Guru Granth Sahib BhavanAmritsar, March 29Guru Nanak Dev University has
decided to establish Guru Granth Sahib Bhavan and a Heritage village,
saadi virasat saada pind, on the university campus in the next
financial year.

Matharu’s
charges baseless: BarsatChandigarh, March 29The Punjab Chief Minister’s
Political Secretary, Mr Harchand Singh Barsat, today said that he was
prepared to face any inquiry into the allegations that had been
levelled against him by an Akali leader, Mr Gurmeet Singh Matharu.

IMA flays clinical
establishment BillPhagwara, March 29The working committee of the
Indian Medical Association, Punjab, with Dr Kuldip Singh in chair, has
flayed the Punjab Regulation of Clinical Establishment Bill-2004.
According to a press note issued by Dr Raman Aggarwal, a spokesman of
the state IMA here today, though the Bill had been inked to curb
quackery and ensure better health services in private hospitals by
prescribing certain minimum standards, yet intriguingly enough only
private hospitals were proposed to be brought under the purview of the
law.

Rights
panel seeks report in stripping caseBathinda, March 29The Punjab State Human Rights
Commission has taken cognizance of the incident pertaining to the
alleged stripping of a plus two student by an invigilator at the
examination centre in SSD School when the former refused to help the
ward of a VVIP copy during the examination on March 9.

Medical
report confirms police tortureRopar, March 29A case of police atrocity has
come to light following the order of a court to medically examine two
persons involved in a theft and robbery case today. The medical
examinations of Balwinder Singh of Chamkaur Sahib and Ajit Singh of a
village near Khanna, revealed that they had been beaten in police
custody.

Panel
for return of gaushala land formedKapurthala, March 29Representatives of the Congress,
the Bajrang Dal, the Shiv Sena (Bal Thackrey) and the BJP today
announced the formation of a 31-member Gaushala Land Eviction
Committee to take the possession of gaushala land.

Cultural conference
in LondonChandigarh, March 29
“Nation building in the 21st century and the Punjabi multi-cultural nation” is the theme of the first world multi cultural conference scheduled to be held in London on May 30 to June 1. The conference is being sponsored jointly by the Academy of the Punjab in the United Kingdom, the Punjabi Literary Organisation and Punjabi newspaper Awaz Punjab.

High
CourtConsider
regularisation of Home GuardsChandigarh, March 29Acting on a petition filed by 284
Home Guards seeking directions to state of Punjab, the Director
General of Police and others, a Division Bench of the Punjab and
Haryana High Court today directed the respondents to take a decision
on their representations submitted in this regard.

Beef
tallow case marked back to ACJMBathinda, March 29Mr Karnail Singh, Additional
Sessions Judge, while setting aside the order of the Additional Chief
Judicial Magistrate, Mr H.S. Dhaliwal, pertaining to the discharging
of the accused in the beef tallow case, which took place in 1982-83
today marked the case back to him for further inquiry.

Bathinda, March 29
The Punjab Chief Secretary, Mr
Jai Singh Gill, today said field experiments of Bt cotton were going
on in the state. He said any decision in connection with Bt cotton
would be taken after the experiments were over and according to the
recommendations of Punjab Agricultural University.

Mr Jai Singh Gill, Chief Secretary, Punjab presents an award to a cotton grower at a function held in Bathinda on Monday.
— Tribune photo by Kulbir Beera

BDPO suspendedFatehgarh Sahib, March 29The Punjab Government in an order
issued here has suspended the BDPO, Bassi Pathana, with immediate
effect. During suspension his headquarters will be at Chandigarh.

Trader’s son
enacts kidnapping drama
Moga, March 29
A local trader’s son staged a drama to secure a ransom of Rs 5 lakh
by informing his parents that he had been kidnapped by four car-borne
persons, the police said today.

Plea to end
commercialisation of educationAbohar, March 29Mr Vimal Thathai, a municipal
council member here, has said that commercialisation in media and
education, like criminalisation in politics, will be fatal for
democracy.